


Here, at the End of All Things

by AstroLonk



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, BAMF Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), BAMF TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Dream Smp, Dreamon, Family Dynamics, Gen, Ghostbur, Hybrids, Minecraft, Pandora's Vault, Platonic Relationships, Pogtopia, Ranboo & Tommyinnit being enemies, Ranboo Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo having an existential crisis, Ranboo having memory problems, Semi-Realistic Minecraft, Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, The Crimson, Time Travel, Time Traveller!Ranboo, Video Game Mechanics, Winged Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), dream team, l'manburg, president!tubbo, somewhat realistic, the egg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:09:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29558217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstroLonk/pseuds/AstroLonk
Summary: In a desperate attempt to save himself- and hopefully the future- from the Egg and everything that it brought with it, Ranboo jumps through a time-manipulating portal. He ends up in a past time and seeks the help of old friends while changing the path of time that was set for the future world. If he messed up, it meant the end of the world.Or:Ranboo travels back in time to save the future from an evil Egg.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Ranboo & Technoblade, Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Jschlatt & Toby Smith | Tubbo, No Romantic Relationship(s), Ranboo & Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Comments: 35
Kudos: 308





	1. Chapter One - Familiar

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a fanfic on this website so bear with me please XD
> 
> I will try to update weekly but I'll let you know if I can't do that
> 
> Keep in mind that I'm not a professional writer and that I just wrote this for fun  
> I hope you enjoy!

Ranboo fell flat on his face into the snow. His bones ached and his vision was still blurry, but he could clearly hear the sound of glass shattering behind him. As he looked behind him, he saw the empty- but still slightly smoking- frame of a portal. _Had it worked?_

His head pounded. His lungs seemed to not be working, he couldn’t find the air to breathe. Trying to unblur his vision, the tall hybrid blinked rapidly. _Where was he?_

As soon as he found the energy, Ranboo scrambled to his feet and studied his surroundings. He immediately recognized the enormous mountain that stood a couple hundred meters away. The lone mountain had been an important landmark, mainly for the base that was built inside it. It also became the base of operations as soon as the SMP and L’Manburg became inhabitable.

But as the tall Endarian stood in the snow now, it looked empty and untouched. There was no unnatural red disrupting the peaceful landscape.

And the silence. Had the world ever been so silent? He couldn’t remember it. All he knew was the Egg and it’s extensions being a constant static and background-noise wherever he’d go. Even sleep couldn’t drown it out. He hadn’t heard any actual silence in years.

A soft chuckle escaped his mouth. He actually went back! The chuckle turned into a giggle and soon enough he was full on laughing, tears of happiness stinging in his eyes, although the sound was muffled by a mask.

Realization struck him and as soon as it did, he reached his hand up to his face and ripped off the gas mask. He sucked in the air and his eyes widened further. Actual clean air filled his lungs! It was no longer necessary to keep a mask on and so he dropped it into the snow.

“No spores,” he mumbled, taking in a deep breath before slowly releasing it again. “It actually worked!”

Ranboo let himself drop backwards into the snow, arms out wide. It seemed so surreal, seeing the lands so clean and the sky a natural blue.

With a sigh that thought turned sour. He came here for a reason. Hopping through a time-manipulating portal isn’t something he’d do for fun. The future depended on him now. He needed a plan and fast.

He took that moment to collect his thoughts and figure out what to do, then Ranboo left the area. He had taken out a compass- which had spun for a minute before pointing towards spawn- and followed the needle.

Beforehand, he didn’t make or get a plan to work with, so he was forced to improvise slightly. The first thing to do seemed obvious: figure out when he was and find L’Manburg. The second thing he realized was that he definitely needed help. And he knew just the person to go to. 

It was time to meet with an old friend.

* * *

Ranboo hated to admit it, but traversing the lands had been harder than he had hoped for. The biomes near the SMP he had instantly recognized, but familiar buildings and important landmarks looked completely different or were just gone. Or rather, not built yet. 

Soon enough he knew exactly where he walked though. Buildings came into view that were there for longer than he was on the SMP, and he knew he was close. He came across a wooden pathway- one that would later turn into a stone path- on his right and stopped his trek. Soon he would start to come across houses and villagers, and he needed something to hide his face.

He opened his inventory and rummaged through it, until his fingers came in touch with a smooth and cold object. It was pulled out of his inventory by a strip and it dangled in front of Ranboo as he held it up.

A porcelain mask. 

The smooth material was dyed black but unlike Dream’s iconic mask, it had no other features. He was glad it didn’t look too similar to Dream’s. Ranboo knew he was nothing like Dream, and neither was the mask. Dream had been a horrible person and Ranboo would never be like him. 

He put the mask over his face, the weight familiar on his head. He pulled the hood of his hoodie over his hair as well and sighed, completely incognito now. A few years ago, he stopped wearing his suit and instead wore sweaters and hoodies. They helped with the cold biomes he was in and his ability to move wasn’t as limited as it was with his suit. 

After he put the backpack back on, he continued on his way. There was no time to be wasted. The situation needed to be assessed and the threat dealt with. The faster the better.

Excitement bubbled in his chest, he couldn’t help it. Curiosity filled his senses. Would things here be different? Surely not, it was his own past.

Ranboo followed the spruce path for a while, more and more houses were scattered around the path. Eventually there was a large stone structure in the distance, but trees blocked the view. The path led under the trees that stood atop of a small overhang. Behind that, Ranboo was sure he would see the structure fully. 

Sudden warmth overcame him. The tall Ender hybrid instantly recognized it. It was the wrong biome for this kind of warmth, so it could only mean it was a potion effect. The blaze powder used in potions always gave a hot, burning feeling throughout your body. But this heat was more welcoming, more gentle than the harsh heat that filled your veins using potions. That could only mean one thing.

“Beacon”

Before the whisper even left his mouth, he broke out into a run. His feet seemed to barely touch the ground as he ran over the walkway with unnatural speed. The last time he felt the effect of a beacon like this was years ago before they all got destroyed. 

When gigantic castle walls came into view shortly after, Ranboo almost cried out in joy. Eret’s castle truly was a sight for sore eyes. Especially when the last time the ender hybrid saw it, the walls were broken down and a fire was destroying everything that was left. 

He skidded to a stop right in front of the walls and placed both hands on the smooth stone, ignoring the looks he got from villagers walking past. A silent sigh of relief escaped his lips when he saw no trace of any red vines. There’s still time.

The urge to stay here and feel nostalgic had to be pushed away forcefully. More urgent matters were at hand. His hands left the stone wall and the tall hybrid continued on his way. He didn’t have time to look around when he went past the fortified walls and underneath the huge archway.

Eret’s castle loomed over him and he stopped to look at it in amazement. Just for a moment he couldn’t stop himself from remembering what happened here. 

_“Fall back!” Tommy’s booming voice sounded behind him right before an explosion shook the ground and filled his ears. The voices of the vines screamed in agony in the back of his head, drowning out his own thoughts. Everything was just so_ loud _._

_Pain. Feed. Hot. Food. Grow. Pain. Hot. Hurt. Feed. Kill. Kill. Grow. Pain. Kill. Feed. Hot. Pain. Kill._

_Ranboo rammed his hands over his ears, dropping his two swords. Panic filled his senses. It’s hot. So hot. There’s too many sounds. The voices, someone had to make them stop. I can’t breathe. No. Please. I can’t breathe. It’s so warm. I can’t breathe._

_Breathe. Feed. Pain. Breathe. Hot. Kill. Breathe._ **_Breathe_ ** _._

_His hand shook as he reached for his gas mask, wanting to rip it off and just breathe. A hand grabbed onto his wrist before he could and he was pulled onto his feet rather harshly. His eyes connected with those of Tommy’s. There was no worry in the president’s eyes, just determination and a hint of fear._

_“Go! Now! It’s too late to save this place!” Tommy shoved the ender hybrid back, kicking the two matching swords towards him as well. Vines were already reaching for the netherite coated weapons and Tommy managed to kick them away just in time._

_Ranboo didn’t think twice about what his leader said. He picked up his swords and stumbled away from the frontlines, not trusting his own judgement now. Another explosion sounded a couple meters away from him and he flinched away, barely able to keep his balance._

A violent shiver went down Ranboo’s spine at the memory. So much death that day. So much loss. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword, something he found himself doing in moments of stress. He shook his head, getting rid of the memory. 

Once again, villagers walked past him and gave strange looks. The hybrid started to get uncomfortable, an Enderian trait he’d adopted, and forced his legs to walk. He entered the castle, going past villagers and guards, who gave him looks as well but didn’t do anything. 

At one point Ranboo saw the familiar throne room to his right but ignored it. If anything, he just started walking faster. He walked by the beacon he felt first as well and quickly passed it.

So far he hadn’t seen anyone familiar, which was concerning to say the least. Which day was it supposed to be? He couldn’t ask anyone, getting recognized would be inconvenient to put it lightly. He would just have to guess by looking at his surroundings.

It took him a while to get past the people and exit Eret’s castle and walls. When he did though, he was met with another sight that brought memories.

  
The community house, still in its full glory. Before it was overtaken by the Egg and its vines. Before it turned from a safe place to a place of death and destruction.

He marched his way over to the entrance. Most common people went around the building, leaving it empty and only for the more powerful and respected people. So _of course_ he got more stares when he went straight to the house instead of taking the path around the lake.

This time he spared no time for memories. It took him only a minute to get to the other side before exiting.

Once outside, he was met with the Prime path. A grin spread across his face though hidden by his mask. His pace sped up again and he ran across the path. Wind pulled at his hood but it felt good for once. This was a good wind, not a cold, biting wind.

There were still no faces he recognized. L’Manburg was his last option. If no one was there, he would message someone. Luckily for him, as soon as L’Manburg came into view, a small crowd of people did as well. 

His heart started pounding with a new nervousness. He swallowed a big lump in his throat and slowly approached the crowd- but keeping a good distance-, and scanned the faces of people.

_What’s happening? Why is everyone here?_

His eyes landed on Tubbo. The face of the boy was filled with dry tears, his eyes fixed on a decorated stone in front of him. A gravestone. 

Oh.

Realization dawned on the hybrid and his heart sank. This was Tommy’s funeral. Or, kind of was. Tommy hadn’t exactly died, though most people here believed he did. At least one person here would know the stubborn teen still breathed. 

He shook his head just slightly, getting rid of the thought. The person he was looking for had to be around.

He continued his search around the crowd and then he saw who he searched for. The bright green truly stood out among the people, who were mostly in black or at least dark clothing. He couldn’t talk to him now though, he had to wait until the funeral was over.

Which seemed to go on forever. He didn’t put any effort in pretending to listen, caught in his own thoughts on what to say. The second it was over, Ranboo pushed his way through people towards the other masked man. He swallowed his nervousness away and approached his old friend.

“Dream, we need to speak”

The man didn’t turn to face the hybrid. Instead, his face stayed glued to the gravestone. “Ranboo, now isn’t the time.”

He suppressed a sigh. Of course Dream immediately recognized his voice. No way he would give up just like that though. Dream showed a fake sadness over a ‘lost’ friend. It would’ve worked on anyone else, but Ranboo knew better.

“I think right now is the best time of all. Honestly, there isn’t going to be a better time,” Ranboo kept his voice low but firm.

This time Dream turned his head to face him. The smiley mask was still as unsettling as ever. Under different circumstances, it would even be intimidating and fearsome. Now all he could feel was determination.

Even though he didn’t see Dream’s face, he knew the man would be frowning. His black porcelain mask hadn’t been made yet, so he wouldn’t recognize it. Because of this, his response was _very_ expected.

“Who the hell are you?”


	2. Chapter Two - Nether Journey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to get this chapter out since I had it ready anyways!  
> I've got loads of ideas for this story and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do!
> 
> Enjoy chapter two, you're getting more Dream and Ranboo interactions :)

Dream paced back and forth in front of Ranboo. “I can’t believe we have to flee from an evil egg, that is the worst.”

The taller of the two let out a sigh, putting his mask in his inventory. He took it off to prove to Dream who he was after the other didn’t want to believe him. It took a whole lot more than he first would’ve thought to convince the mask-bearer of his claims.

_ “Alright, very funny Ranboo. Quit already, today is not the day.” Dream crossed his arms, staring the other down. “Tell Quackity or whoever is behind this that I didn’t fall for his time travel prank.” _

_ Ranboo could’ve guessed it would go like this. Dream was definitely the person who needed hard evidence for something as big as time travel. _

_ “I gave you my sword, even you can tell that it’s way older than his- than other Ranboo’s swords. They’re the same but from a different point in time. You can see how damaged mine is,” Ranboo told him, resisting the urge to call him an idiot for multiple reasons. _

_ “Your sword doesn’t mean anything to me.” The masked man took out his sword, holding it in Ranboo’s face and pointing it at his mask. The Endarian didn’t so much as flinch when he did so. “This thing, however, is  _ quite  _ interesting to me.” _

And so he took it off. Even with Dream’s mask still on, the way his head tilted showed he was surprised. Ranboo had let out a snort. He knew he didn’t look as pretty with more scars in his face than he would’ve liked.

His proof didn’t end there. Telling stories about himself, others and the man in front of him too, showed he clearly knew more than probably anyone around here. He knew things about Dream that shocked him a lot- though the mask-bearer wouldn’t ever admit it. 

“Yeah, how unexpected.” His voice stayed monotone. “Listen we need a plan to get rid of this thing before it gets out of hand.” While he said that, he had stood up from where he sat. He was now towering over the masked other. “We need to  _ destroy  _ that thing.”

“Well, what do you suggest? You seem to be the professional here.”

Ranboo shakes his head just slightly. He had to be honest, he had no idea what to do. The Egg needed to be completely destroyed, but it wasn’t so simple. No one except him had the proper weapons to do so.

“We need to prepare,” he said, eyeing the enchantments on his weapon. Simply seeing the amount of engravings in the metal would convince anyone that this sword was incredibly powerful. “This enchantment is essential.” His thumb ran over a long light blue set of ancient words close to the hilt of his sword. 

Dream held his hand out, taking it for a closer look. A hum was his first response. He turned his back to the hybrid and raised his mask ever so slightly to see the enchantment better.

“What kind of enchantment is this? I’ve never seen it before, and why is it glowing blue and  _ red? _ ” came after a few minutes. His mask properly aligned again, Dream turned to face the time-traveler. 

Ranboo couldn’t help a grin. “Soul Fire Aspect. It’s a Nether enchantment-” He paused to hear Dream quietly repeating his first three words. He only wished for the man to take off his mask- it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen his face before. “- just like Soul Speed. You’ll need other materials, _ Nether materials _ , to enchant it on a weapon. Just Lapis isn’t enough.”

“Okay but hold on. Soul Fire, what’s the difference with just the normal Fire Aspect? And what about other weapons? Can you put it on bows? Armour?” By now, Ranboo was sure Dream was incredibly curious. These whole new enchantments were never heard of before. If it wasn’t for the Egg, maybe they would have never been discovered because they weren’t necessary. 

“Soul Fire is … I don’t know, I’m not sure about the science behind it. All I know is that the Egg is weak to it.” He ignored Dream’s sigh. “But yes, we have Soul Flame bows and crossbows. We had Soul Fire protection for armour as well, though the only material that could stand the enchantment was netherite.”

Continuing to pace around the room, Dream put a hand on his chin thoughtfully. After a while he asked, “So, you need  _ me  _ to help you?”

Gritting his teeth, Ranboo gave a nod as an answer. Sadly, he did. “I don’t want many people to know about this, especially not my younger self. We need to do this quietly, or we might mess up the future more. You’re my best bet.”

“Alright, that makes sense. I’ll make sure no one knows about this for now.” They shared a look, distrust evident. Dream wouldn’t help without getting something in return or if he could benefit from it- the past had shown that enough. Ranboo didn’t let himself get scared, he would worry about that later.

“Good. Now let’s get some resources.”

* * *

The porcelain mask sat uncomfortably on his face. The heat of the Nether hurt his lungs enough, but his mask limited his ability to breathe even more. Ranboo longed for the cool air of the Overworld but didn’t complain. Extreme temperature wasn’t something new to him.

Back home, in the future, he frequently travelled between the realms. Since Tommy set up their base in the snow biome, the differences between temperatures was extreme. They had all been forced to adapt. They didn’t have any other choice.

So if anything, this was a little more comfortable than his last few Nether trips.

The Enderarian hybrid hopped skillfully over some netherrack, eyes darting around to find familiar landmarks. Neither of them talked. Ranboo was glad, but he knew Dream itched to ask questions about the future.  _ Should he answer those if he asked? _ That would for sure change the future.  _ Maybe not in a good way though.  _

The silence didn’t last.

  
“So, I have to help you change your future, right?” Dream started, eyeing the other shortly. They kept walking, not saying anything for a couple minutes.

“It’s not just my future. It’s yours as well.” 

His hand rested on the hilt of his sword. It didn’t come as a surprise what Dream said next.

“And what else do I get out of this? You seem to know me well, you must know that I do things for favors in return.”

It took Ranboo’s whole willpower to not punch Dream in the face. “What you  _ get _ , Dream, is that you don’t  _ die _ . Got it?”

The man in green stopped dead in his tracks, eyes glued to the taller of the two. “I die in the future? How many times?” This made Ranboo stop as well.

In the blink of an eye, the Endarian had his sword unsheathed and swung it at Dream’s face. Dream barely had the time to react before netherite came in contact with porcelain. The mask flew in an arc before falling in some Nether plantlife. 

Dream, whose face was now completely uncovered, stared in shock. Ranboo’s heterochromia eyes stared back through the holes of the mask and the smaller couldn’t read his expression. 

“I wasn’t talking about the future, I was talking about  _ now _ . I’ll kill you if you don’t work with me here. And just trust me, I can if I really want to. You have your three lives still. Understood?” It definitely wasn’t an empty threat and Dream knew it.

The man in green slowly raised his hands in defence. Pulling his sword now would be straight up dumb. “Got it,” he replied. His expression turned from shocked to impressed. 

At the reply, Ranboo retreated his sword and slid it back where it belonged- though returning his hand to the hilt of it. “Good.”  _ Done. Solved. _

They continued on their way. Dream picked up his mask of course, salty about not having anticipated or deflected the attack but didn’t show as much. 

A warped forest came into sight not long after that last interaction. Tense silence had overcome them. Dream let Ranboo take the lead- who claimed to know the best spot for blaze rods- and followed as he went straight into the warped forest.

The forest never failed to impress the hybrid. Trees grew in odd shapes and blue vines curled around anything they could find. A soft glow came from the shroomlights scattered around.

“Where did you learn that?” Ranboo didn’t expect that question out of everything else that could’ve been asked. “The precision and speed, who taught you that? Last time I saw you-  _ other  _ you, you could barely defend yourself.”

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, the last part was very true. Up until certain points he knew how to hold a sword and fight but everyone saw he wasn’t very well at it. The sheer speed, precision and strength he had now- the last-mentioned he hadn’t shown Dream yet, but he would at some point- were beyond most people’s expectations.

“The best fighter in the lands, he taught me.” A grin spread across his face, seeing Dream’s familiar head tilt. “Not you, of course.” The smiley-faced man turned his face forward again at this. Ranboo suppressed a snort of amusement.

“ _ Technoblade _ .”

“Correct,” Ranboo simply replied, acting like he didn’t hear the way Dream spat out the name. Those two have been enemies for as long as the Endarian could remember, and it went on until the end. The two went silent again after that but they kept walking.

“Stop here,” he instructed after stopping himself. They were deep into the warped forest now. Dream looked around the place, there was nothing special about it nor were there blazes or fortresses in sight. He knew more about this place than Dream so he wished that the other wouldn’t question it.

There were times, before everything went to shit, where Ranboo would find himself studying culture and history and science and everything in books that seemed interesting enough. This included Piglin culture. Not much information was available. Only those who learned the Piglin language or hybrids such as the Blade himself were able to write these books. There just weren’t that many around to do so. And even less who were willing to write books.

But it was how he knew how to figure out where Piglin tribe borders were. Crossing those would result in disaster, especially knowing he would need to be in their favor for this.

Ranboo waited there, standing out in the open, only for a little bit. A small patrol walked up to the border. Two of them wielded loaded crossbows, the last a golden sword. 

The one with the sword stepped forward but stayed quiet. He probably waited for an explanation from either of the unfamiliar men.

Ranboo took the lead, stepping forward as well. After clearing his throat softly, the Endarian let out a soft grunt all of the people involved could only recognize as a greeting.

The piglin responded, it’s head tilted just slightly. Both parties started conversing. The only breaks in their talk were when Ranboo had to stop to recall certain words he couldn’t remember. 

Meanwhile Dream looked at the taller quite shocked. He never expected a person like Ranboo to know Piglish. Then again, the day had been full of surprises already. Who knew what would happen next, maybe Schlatt would somehow pop up randomly and completely alive. 

Ranboo pulled Dream out of his thoughts when he hit the other on the arm. “Gold? You have it right?” The smaller nodded in response. He opened his inventory and pulled out a gold bar. 

All three of the piglins let out an admiring huff when seeing the shiny material. Ranboo offered it to them quietly and the leader gladly took it. It took a few moments for the piglin to inspect it before it began nodding and let out another series of grunts and huffs. To Dream’s surprise it began laughing. 

“What is he laughing at?” Dream whispered to Ranboo, watching as the piglin gave a round object on a braided string to them. The Endarian took it and gave a thanks before turning to Dream.

“He said my accent was terrible, but that we’re free to travel through their land now. As long as we don’t enter their camp of course.”

Dream snorted. “You should watch me try and repeat what you said, I don’t even know what I’m saying.”

“Don’t- please don’t do that, you’ll accidentally offend their god and they would have our heads on spikes.” Ranboo grimaced at the thought. That was simply because he spoke from experience. 

_ “YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!”  _

_ The tallest in the room screamed in fear and hid behind Phil, who was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Ranboo was shaking and  _ terrified _.  _

_ “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! What did I say?” His voice cracked multiple times and his figure spazzed out ever so slightly. _

_ “You  _ DARE  _ speak of the Blood God like this?!” Technoblade pulled his crossbow out of his inventory, having it preloaded. The sight made the Endarian freeze to the spot.  _

_ “Techno, Techno, I’m sure it was an accident,” Philza tried. He was still laughing but managed to stay upright to shield the cowering Ranboo from the fuming piglin. Ranboo nodded as quickly as he could. He was  _ definitely  _ sorry.  _

_ Techno let out a huff and put his crossbow away onto the table. The book he dropped was picked back up and then he sat down. He gestured for Ranboo to do the same. _

_ “Don’t do that again, understood?” _

_ “Y-yeah, got it.” _

“It’s definitely something you don’t wanna do.” Ranboo glanced at the piglin before giving it a respectful nod. “Come on, we don’t have much time.”

The piglin had given the Endarian directions to the Nether fortress. It was built in the middle of their territory, which he could only imagine bringing a lot of trouble. Blazes and Piglins never got along and the species constantly fought.

Their journey through the blue forest continued. At some point Dream had asked for the object that the piglin had given him, probably to examine it. Ranboo had seen it countless times before so handed it to him. The object made from quartz was small and it had a couple engravings in it. Having it meant they could travel without being jumped by piglin’s for being on their territory without permission. 

The duo only passed a couple other piglin patrols before the familiar dark red bricks of the fortress became visible through the trees. Ranboo made his way to the wall, taking out his pickaxe in the meantime.

“So … why this fortress and not one closer by?” Dream questioned. Other fortresses had blaze spawns too, what made this one so special? 

Ranboo put a clawed hand on the wall for a second. He didn’t turn to face Dream when he answered and instead brought his pickaxe down on the tough bricks. “Because no one knows about this fortress. And if they did know, this place is too dangerous to just wander into.”

He wanted to avoid running into someone familiar. It was inevitable that he would eventually, but he would make sure it wasn’t happening anytime soon. 

It took only a few seconds to get through the wall when Dream also joined in on mining. Messy charcoal torches were placed on the ground near walls. The items were piglin-made. Dream picked one up, following Ranboo’s example.

“Watch out for withered skeletons, piglins probably won’t get rid of them. There will be plenty walking around,” he told Dream, though didn’t believe the man in green would need his advice. “But the spawn points are close by, I believe.” The Endarian pulled out his sword, looked left and right, and then continued to walk to the left side of the hallway. 

Finding a spawn point was easier said than done.

“I know where the spawn points are, I’ve been here a thousand times!” he exclaimed when Dream stared at him after they got to the third dead end in a row. “It’s not my fault things look different now.”

“Been having memory problems again?” Dream asked calmly. The two walked back through the hallway. Hopefully the next time they wouldn’t have to walk all the way back to where they came from because they took a wrong turn.

Ranboo grumbled out a reply. His hand was tightening and loosening his grip on his sword constantly in annoyance.  _ Memory problems? _ Ranboo would rather eat his own arm than admit something was wrong with his memory. That problem had been fixed a long time ago. He’d burned his memory book and knew he would never need it again.

Sounds of fighting pulled him out of his bad mood and thoughts. The grip on his sword tightened once again. The two turned a corner, and soon after another, before seeing two men fight against a whole group of blazes. They were faring well against them, Ranboo didn’t step in to help.

The other two men took a little bit to fight them all off, but when they were done Dream caught their attention- he cleared his throat quite loudly.

“Well, well, well, look who we caught sneaking after us.”

* * *

In the overworld, a figure was pacing through his house. The lights were dim, no one would see him walk in circles in his living room. Quiet mumbles sometimes came from the creature.

He heard footsteps walk past his front door and he froze entirely. The steps went as fast as they came but to him it seemed like an eternity. He was glad the footsteps hadn’t approached his house.  _ Who was that? Were they looking for him? No, they weren’t. What are they doing here? _

The creature returned to his pacing.

He shook his head, eyes landing on a book surrounded by small candles. That cursed book. “What else did I do? I …” He took a moment to think. “I started with … the decorations, yes I did that.” 

He went to his book. Taking the quill, he dipped it in ink and wrote down what he said.

“But the rest? Why is it just … nothing?” He held the quill just above the paper, his tail swishing from the left to the right without him even wanting to.

“Why … Why can’t I remember?”

Ink dripped onto the paper. He just stared at it. The frown on his face just grew.  _ He did something. What did he do? Why can’t he remember? What happened?  _ Something happened but his memory was blank _. Why? _

The boy took a deep, quivering breath. Something was terribly wrong. But he had to steady himself. There would be an important day in less than a week. Tomorrow and the days after he had to put up the decorations and make other preparations. 

“I’ll be okay,” he sighed out. “The festival will go fine, everything will go to plan. Dream will be gone.”

… 

Who was he kidding? It wasn’t going to work. Something was terribly  _ wrong _ . 

He sighed. Placing his quill back down he closed his book. Everything was suddenly so much. A dark cloud seemed to hang above L’Manburg and him especially. Soon it would be raining and thundering down upon them all, he could feel it coming.

That night he knew he wasn’t going to sleep. He needed a place to think. A place he could go to later in case of emergency. Somewhere that wasn’t here, in the midst of all the soon to be chaos.

He took obsidian- both crying and normal- out of his chest. Then, after seeing it there too, he also took his jukebox and set off into the night. The boy knew where to go and what to build.

A panic room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading my second chapter!   
> It helped a lot seeing how you guys reacted to the first chapter and it makes me super excited to write more!
> 
> Next up, you guessed it, MORE RANBOO!


	3. Chapter Three - Memory Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really wanted to get this chapter out because YES
> 
> I could bet my entire bank account that you won't expect what's gonna happen this chapter :)
> 
> ENJOY!

Reaching up with a long arm, the boy attached a wire to the roof of his own house. He looked over his shoulder at the decorations he was putting on. So far, the lights he hung up were looking pretty nice.

“Hey Ranboo, I found some more lights!” His friend called out, who stood on the higher platform. In his hands were a bunch of wrapped up christmas lights.

“Oh, hi Tubbo!” the taller of the two called out, a beaming smile on his face. He waved shortly before stepping off the two block high tower of dirt he made. Taking out his shovel, he destroyed the blocks instantly.

After Tubbo put the lights by the others Ranboo still had to hang up, he leaned against one of the supporting beams. It was quite easy to figure out what was on the teen’s mind. They both felt it.

“Nervous?”

His friend let out a barely audible scoff as a reply. “That doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling.” They shared a soft laugh.

_Tubbo must be feeling so much at once now_ , Ranboo thought. Not only the crushing responsibilities of being the president of a whole nation, but the boy just lost his best friend, held a funeral for him and was about to take on his main enemy in a few days. Before that he had been in several wars, and died twice- one time by being shot by someone he trusted- and watched his beloved and fought-for nation die a fiery death. And the kid was only _16_.

Toby shook his head. “I just hope something will go well for once, y’know?” His voice was quiet and so full of doubt. Ranboo realized that he hadn’t shown this doubt around his vice-president or secretary of state.

He decided not to voice his own doubts. Instead he laid a comforting hand on the smaller one’s shoulder. “We have a good plan. Stick to it, and I’m sure we’ll take him down. It’s four of us versus one of him, and he won’t have any armour.”

That was true. Their plan seemed foolproof. _Then why did everything feel so wrong?_

“Thanks, Memory Boy.” Tubbo chuckled at the nickname. Ranboo couldn’t do the same. His expression turned into an uncomfortable grimace.

As soon as Tubbo noticed he turned to fully face the Ender-hybrid. “Have you been having memory troubles again?” When his Ender-friend nodded, he sighed. “It’s probably the festival and everything. Come on, let’s go hang up these lights.”

Before he even finished his sentence, the boy took Ranboo’s hand and dragged him to the pile of decorations. _Maybe distracting himself would help, Tubbo was right._ With Toby around- who could talk for hours on end about anything and everything- it definitely wouldn’t be quiet.

And it surely wasn’t boring. Tubbo had to tower up with blocks to hang the wire, because of his size and everything. He was also known for being clumsy. _Very_ clumsy. Standing on his tippy-toes, he tried to wrap the wire around a newly placed hook but had miscalculated where he placed his feet. Not a second later the boy fell off with a loud yell.

Ranboo, who was just reaching up to do the other side, heard and dropped everything to catch his friend. In a flurry of purple, he managed to teleport a few blocks forward. He reached his arms forward, his eyes glued on Tubbo. _Somehow_ , Tubbo landed in his arms. Ranboo nearly fell over with the sudden weight but managed to stay upright.

“Holy cr- Ranboo you saved me! Holy- Woah!” Eyes wide, the boy with ram horns looked up at Ranboo. Then- as if he just hadn’t almost fallen- a devilish grin appeared on his face. “You saved me, should we kiss now?”

“Yeah uh, no.” Ranboo dropped him and stepped back. A loud thud sounded before Tubbo let out an over-exaggerated cry of pain, sending Ranboo into a laughing fit. 

“You betrayed me! How dare you?!” Tubbo shouted playfully. He got back up and held his fists up while starting to giggle. “Traitor!”

_“Traitor!” Tommy shouted at him. The tip of his sword was pointed straight at Ranboo’s throat. “You are hereby exiled from L’Manburg!”_

_Ranboo’s eyes widened. The room he was in was dark and the only other person was Tommy who stood in front of him. With a sword, pointed at his throat. Where did Tubbo go?!_

_He had to swallow a large lump in his throat. Tommy is alive? Why is he being exiled? Why is he a traitor? He tried to voice his questions but nothing came out of his mouth._

_“You disgust me, Ranboo. You could’ve done so well but instead you work against me, your_ president _.”_

_Confusion struck his face. The president? Tommy had never been president of L’Manburg, had he?_

_“Leave, and never return.”_

When he came back, it seemed like he could finally breathe again. As if he was being held underwater while that memory came over him and now he was free again. _Memory?_ Was _that a memory? If it was, it certainly wasn’t his._

“Ranboo! Oh my gosh, what happened?! Are you okay?!” He finally heard Tubbo’s frantic yelling and blinked a couple times. He lied on the ground now, sitting in a thin patch of fresh snow.

“I’m- yeah, I’m okay.” He shook his head, he was so confused. “I don’t know what happened, I’m sorry.”

“You had me so worried! You suddenly just froze and fell over, I had no idea what to do!” Tubbo walked back and forth while biting on his thumb.

Ranboo’s legs shook but he managed to stand up. “I’m sorry Tubbo, I’m alright now.” He didn’t try to stop him when Tubbo wrapped his arms around his slender body for a hug. Instead he gladly took the hug and quietly sighed out. 

_What was that?_ He had never had something like that before. _Where did it come from?_ The questions seemed to continue to pile up every day. Ranboo would make sure to write it down in his memory book later, he had to. 

The two hybrids stayed like that for a little bit. It was comfortable and Tubbo always warmed Ranboo up a little like this, especially during the colder months.

Two sets of footsteps approached them. Then- making the Endarian tense up completely in just half a second- a voice called out. “Are you guys doing alright? I saw both of you fall, it didn’t look very pretty.” The voice chuckled but Ranboo felt no humour. 

Letting go of his best friend, Ranboo turned to face Dream. “H-Hey, uhm,” he mentally hit himself in the head. _Always the stupid stutter_. “Yeah, I’m- I’m doing alright, thanks.”

“We were just hanging up the first decorations for the festival but I slipped, Ranboo fell in the snow too,” Toby explained with a slight chuckle. Ranboo suppressed a sigh of relief hearing that his friend didn’t mention anything worrisome. They both didn’t exactly want Dream to get involved in whatever the heck just happened.

Dream nodded in acknowledgement. “Well, it’s starting to look nice already. I bet when you have all those lights up-” he pointed a finger to the pile of lights. “- and the rest of the decorations, that the place will look great.”

Tubbo smiled with delight. “It will! I’ve made sure this place is gonna be absolutely fantastic!” Ranboo copied his smile, trying to match in his enthusiasm- although it was _very_ fake.

Dream let out a chuckle. _Was it a genuine laugh?_ Ranboo highly doubted it. It would be more believable to see a pig naturally fly than to see Dream being genuinely nice towards any L’Manburg inhabitant. 

“Tubbo I actually came to talk to you, we’ve got some things to discuss,” the masked man said, taking off his helmet in respect to the rules. 

His hybrid friend seemed surprised. “Oh uh, alright, of course.” 

When the other two left, Ranboo picked up the string of lights that he had dropped. They were going to have a conversation, it was probably important. Which meant he wasn’t invited.

It took him little to no effort to reach up again and wrap the wire around the pole of one of the festival stands. The other side though … Ranboo looked at where Tubbo had tried to hang it and his shoulders slumped. Tubbo’s dirt pillar stood underneath a tall house- the boy had tried to attach it to the roof. 

He made his way over to the dirt pillar and picked up the other side of the wire. A sudden ice cold shiver ran down his spine. It hadn’t been very cold the past few days. Sure, it snowed every day but he didn’t mind the cold.

The Endarian whipped his head around, scanning the place. It didn’t take him long to find something off.

A person stood against one of the many supporting beams of the town. Completely dressed in black, hood over his head, covering his face with a mask and very, _very_ tall. He thought of himself as tall, but this person was even taller. The only other person that would probably match in height was BadBoyHalo, though he wouldn’t dress like this.

A sharp pain in his head appeared as soon as Ranboo saw the person. He winced and reached for his head. _What the heck is this? Who is this person?_ The hybrid tore his eyes away from the stranger and the pain ceased, but only slightly. That piqued his curiosity.   
  
Deciding against his better judgement he approached the person. _A telepath? Who was this?_ The voice in his head kept asking the same questions and Ranboo became determined to find out who this was. His head hurt more and more the closer he got. 

The mystery man didn’t seem to notice him, he seemed to be focused on something else. Or some _one_ . Following his gaze, Ranboo saw he was staring at Tubbo. Unease filled his head and his muscles unwillingly tensed up again. _Why?_

To catch his attention, he tried a soft “Hello?” while giving a small wave. His tail swept nervously, he hoped he wouldn’t agitate the stranger. 

But as the person’s head switched from watching Tubbo to staring straight into his soul, Ranboo knew he made a mistake. An even more violent shiver went down his spine and this time he stepped back. His head throbbed with unexplainable pain and his eyes even started to water. 

He blinked to get rid of the tears- because they _stung_ \- and out of nowhere, the person was gone. They left some purple particles floating behind, much to his shock. _An Endarian?_ It didn’t explain why he had such a reaction when being close to him.

Muscles started to relax and he let out a long breath. Luckily, the pain in his head ebbed away faster than last time. The tall hybrid reached a hand up and moved his claws through his black hair. He resisted the urge to pull at it, people might see. 

He shuddered. Everything felt colder now. _Was it his suit? Was he not wearing enough?_

The hybrid shook slightly and wrapped his arms around himself. Too bad Tubbo wasn’t there to give him a proper hug. _You need a break_ . He nodded to himself. _He did need a break_. 

Without further thought, he set off to his newly made room outside of the town. His panic room was made for these exact reasons: panic and stress. A place he could go to think and figure it out. He would be long gone by the time his friend was done discussing things with Dream. 

“Tubbo will understand.” Tubbo is nice, he was a good friend. He wouldn’t mind. 

* * *

Hours prior, the older Ranboo was calmly listening to Dream shouting at his friends. 

“You followed us, why would you even do that?!”

“In our defence, we don’t know him and we were curious!”  
  


Ranboo let out a soft snort. It was his own fault. Had he been more careful, this wouldn’t have happened. So far, not a single word had come from him since they met Sapnap and George. The past five- or was it ten?- minutes, they had been arguing about seemingly everything.

He wanted so badly to just tell Dream they had to go. There were about a million things they had to do. Arguing about this was _not_ one of them. 

“Yeah, Sapnap’s right! Who the hell even is that guy?” George glared towards him, but he probably didn’t mean it. Ranboo, again, kept his mouth shut.

Dream glanced at him, who gave the tiniest shake of his head. He couldn’t tell them who he really was. Now he hoped Dream caught the hint and would make up some sort of lie to tell his friends.

“This is … Mark. He doesn’t talk that much, but he asked for some help getting blaze rods.” _Good enough_. Wasn’t perfect, but it seemed to work.

George and Sapnap both nodded, Sapnap’s eyes flashing between his friend and this so-called Mark. “We got some, how many do you need?”

They stayed a little longer. Soon they had more than enough blaze rods after killing countless blaze that spawned there. Ranboo signalled to Dream.

“Alright, let’s head out,” the latter said. It didn’t take them long to leave, they had barely taken anything out of their inventory. Sapnap tossed water bottles to everyone. In his hurry, Ranboo realized he forgot to bring water bottles. As an Endarian he didn’t need to drink that often but he’d forgotten about his human companion Dream. _Whoops_.

When he opened the bottle after catching it, he was glad he walked in front. That way he could move his mask up just slightly without having to worry about anyone seeing. Sapnap had tried to sneak forward and get a look but Dream yanked him back by his shirt.

The journey back to the tribe border didn’t take as long as the journey to the fortress. This time they knew where they were going. During their walk, the ‘Dream Team’ continuously talked. Ranboo didn’t bother listening to their conversations, they probably wouldn’t be important to him anyways. 

By the border, Ranboo hung the small quartz ‘travel-pass’- it’s what he named it in his head, it fit what it was meant for- by one of the border marks. Any piglin patrol passing by would know the object had been returned and they would be off their land. 

From there on he let Dream take the lead. Dream knew the Nether-waste here better. The safe and quick roads Ranboo knew weren’t made yet and they had to use the old roads now, which was actually to the hybrid’s surprise. He couldn’t exactly remember the last times he had seen these Nether-roads still fully in use and completely intact.

“So … you come here often?” Sapnap asked casually as they walked side by side towards the main portal. Ranboo couldn’t stop himself from snorting at that terrible, _terrible_ joke. His eyes widened when he realized but luckily the mask still covered his entire face.

Meanwhile Sapnap was bragging about his ‘victory’ to George. “I told you I could make him laugh, come on, pay up!” Ranboo could only shake his head as George threw the other a single diamond. 

_Seriously?_ He almost said it out loud. On the inside he found himself laughing, just a little bit. When was the last time he could actually laugh out loud? The last time someone joked about something because things weren’t that bad yet, before things got messed up beyond repair? When was the last time _he_ told a joke? He used to be so good at joking. Maybe someday he would be able to make people laugh again. _When he changed the future. Then things would be normal again._

He stayed quiet, walking past Dream’s friends and slipping through the portal before any of them could. In the Overworld he was met with light snow falling from the sky. It didn’t take Dream and the others long before they stepped through as well.

“I need to attend some business with L’Manburg, R- Mark will be coming with me. I’ll see you guys later, alright?” Ranboo glanced at Dream when he said that. _What business with L’Manburg?_

After they said their goodbyes- Ranboo simply nodded in their direction- Dream and him went on their way towards L’Manburg. He looked over his shoulder to check if they were really gone before he decided to speak. “Are you gonna tell me what kind of business you have with L’Manburg?”

The other masked man chuckled softly. “They’re planning a festival and I’m invited. There’s just some things I need to talk about with the president.” 

_A festival_ . Ranboo narrowed his eyes just slightly. _Which one?_ “What kind of festival?” It was better to just voice his thoughts than try and figure it out on his own. 

They walked up the stairs towards Tommy’s home. L’Manburg would be reached soon. 

“I mean, a winter festival isn’t uncommon.” Ranboo remembered those. The yearly snow-filled festivals used to be one of his favorites. “They’re calling this the ‘Green Festival’. It’s pretty popular already, everyone is talking about it.”

He kept his mouth shut. The Green Festival had been a huge disaster. They’d planned to kill Dream during the middle of it, but the masked man had instead threatened Tubbo’s position as president. If Tommy hadn’t intervened, Tubbo’s last life would’ve been taken right then and there. And L’Manburg _definitely_ wouldn’t have survived.

_But Tubbo lost his life anyways_. He shook the thought away. There were other matters at hand.

The Endarian was so caught up in the past that he hadn’t realized that he and Dream already reached their destination. “Are you guys doing alright? I saw both of you fall, it didn’t look very pretty,” Dream said with a chuckle.

A few meters in front of him stood the one person he wanted to avoid at all cost. Himself. _Curse you Dream_ . He really shouldn’t be here. _Why didn’t he pay attention?_

Ranboo took a couple steps back- he was pretty sure no one saw him yet. He leaned against one of the supporting beams that kept his beloved city up, hoping Dream wouldn’t take long. 

The city was still small, but it was _his_ city. He smiled behind his mask. L’Manburg, the city that survived. Through everything L’Manburg would survive. Even in the future, although the actual city was long gone, the spirit of his city lived on in everyone.

His eyes landed on Tubbo. He took a deep breath. Emotions- long forgotten and pushed away- forced their way to his mind.

_“It’s been too long. Where are they?” Ranboo sat anxiously on Eret’s castle walls, speaking to no one in particular. No one was around anyways._

_It had been five days since they left. Surely they could be back already, right?_

_The ‘final fight’, that’s what everyone called it. Tommy and Tubbo’s last fight for the discs against Dream. They spent so much time preparing, they could defeat the mask-bearer. Everyone had faith in them. Surely they defeated the evil that plagued the lands, right?_

_A lone figure appeared on the path. The hybrid squinted his eyes to try and see who it was. Slowly but surely the person got closer._

_“It’s Tommy!” Ranboo sighed out in relief and let himself slip off the stone wall. Right before he would hit the ground, he teleported on the ground- getting rid of any fall damage he would’ve taken. He ran towards his friend._

_But something was off. Where’s Tubbo?_

_“Tommy!” He met with his friend, a happy but confused look on his face. “You’re- you’re back! But where’s Tubbo?”_

_Tommy didn’t look the hybrid in the eyes. He kept his mouth shut as he took two items in one hand and held them up. The black items shone in the daylight._

_Ranboo shook his head, keeping his eyes on his friend. Where was Tubbo?_

_“Tommy, where-” “He’s gone, Ranboo. Dream- I have the discs now.”_

_His smile froze. Tubbo is …? No, that couldn’t be true. “What do you mean he’s gone?” His ears drooped when he realized._

_“Dream killed him, in return for the discs,” Tommy said, moving past Ranboo towards the castle. The teenager clipped the discs back onto his belt._

_Ranboo clenched his fists. Tears stung in his eyes. No, it couldn’t be true. “But why?! How?!”_

_“Listen, I made a deal okay? I made a deal with Dream. I will take over Tubbo’s- the president’s roles.”_

_Fury overtook the Endarian’s systems and he drew his two swords. His knuckles hurt because of how tightly he held onto them. “Thomas. Tell me you didn’t do that. Tell me you didn’t kill Tubbo for those damned discs!” His shouts drew the attention of nearby villagers._

_Tommy stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly, he faced the Ender hybrid. The look he got was ice-cold._

_“I did, Ranboo. I did do that.”_

Tears stung in his eyes at the memory. He lost his best friend that day. And for some _stupid_ reason. Without realising, the hybrid clenched and unclenched his fists.

“Hello?” His heart skipped a beat. Silently cursing himself- his _past_ self- the hybrid turned his head to see himself. Young, unscarred, with his iconic suit, hair still completely black. For a moment he envied his younger self. So much that he didn’t have to deal with, so much that he didn’t have to carry around everywhere.

The moment passed as soon as the _unbelievably_ strong headache kicked in. That was when Ranboo realized he should not be talking to his past self- he shouldn’t even be this close to him. 

In a flash of purple, Ranboo teleported himself away. The only place he could think of was the roof he saw in the distance, and so he landed ever so gracefully on the roof of his old home. He quickly checked to see if anyone noticed. But the only person around was his old self, who had only seen him teleport away.

“Curse you, Dream”

He turned his attention back to Tubbo and Dream, they were still conversing. The Endarian bit his lip. He sunk back into his thoughts.

He needed some way of getting rid of his younger self. Some way to make sure he’s not in the way. Staring at some festival decorations, a grin appeared on his mask-covered face. He had the perfect idea.

It was time to frame himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SADNESSSS
> 
> next up: a certain teen and a piglin threaten a fox for weapons :)


	4. Chapter Four - Business

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not too proud of this chapter but it's fine :)  
> enjoy!

“You want to  _ what _ ?!”

The sun had set soon after Dream and Tubbo were done. Ranboo and Dream met up again at one of the latter’s secret bases. Sharing a meal, the hybrid had told him of his plan. Both took off their masks for their dinner, they weren’t necessary anymore.

“Listen, you heard what I said. I went over it a few times and it’ll work.” He folded his hands over each other. Needless to say, Dream didn’t quite agree with his plan.

“You think going as far as  _ blowing up the Community House _ is the best you can think of?” Rage was evident in his eyes. “It’s the first build here, you can’t destroy that!”

Ranboo let out an amused chuckle. He couldn’t care less about a build Dream loved. _ So much for having no attachments _ . “I don’t care about the building. We  _ need  _ past me to be out of the way. You’ve manipulated people before, I’m sure you know how things go.”

The blond across the table stared thoughtfully at his plate. It was obvious he didn’t like the idea, but he seemed to be weighing out his options. 

“You said we had to do it right before the festival. Why?”

“Because you can’t go to the festival.” Ranboo eyed his food shortly. He didn’t feel that hungry.

Seeing Dream’s questioning look, he continued. “They’ll try and kill you, take one of your lives. You need-”

“Those bastards!” Ranboo was quite shocked by the sudden outburst of rage. He didn’t intervene as the man in front of him continued. “Those selfish, ungrateful bastards. I literally worked with them and  _ especially  _ Tubbo.”

Dream glared at him. It seemed he demanded some sort of explanation. He shrugged. “You did cause them a lot of pain.” Before the other could reply, he finished what he wanted to say earlier. “Dream, you need to have a reason to have armor on. They’ll jump you if you don’t, I’m literally protecting you with this. This way we get two things in one go, alright? I’m sorry your  _ beloved  _ Community House has to go, but we need this.”

The other moved his gaze back to his plate of food. Ranboo took the time to eat a little bit, and Dream seemed to need the time to think.

After a while Dream asked, “is there anything we need to do today or tomorrow? As in, what kind of preparations should we make?” 

That was a valid question. The hybrid was relieved Dream didn’t argue about the Community House further. And this time, he knew what to do. This time it was simple.

“Tomorrow and the day after, we stay out of L’Manburg.” He took a sip of his water, seeing the other’s confused look. “Techno and Tommy will be visiting town.”

* * *

The sun rose on the next day. Bedsheets rustled when a certain teen woke up in cold sweat. The boy shuddered and closed his eyes for a few seconds after sitting up.  _ Just a nightmare _ . 

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed some clothes were neatly stacked on a chair next to the bed he was on. He quickly realized that this was Techno’s attic. The Enchantment table stood only a few meters away from the bed, surrounded by bookshelves. And he was sitting in Techno’s- mostly unused- bed. When he listened, he heard voices coming from downstairs.  _ Phil must have helped him get to bed last night. _

After taking a moment to dress himself, the teen stepped down the ladder that led to the living room. He saw Philza cooking something, most likely breakfast, and Techno was making potions by the dinner table.

“Morning,” he said with a croaky voice. Both of them looked up at him.

“Hey Tommy,” his father replied with a warm smile while Techno mumbled something and just continued with his brewing. 

“Is something- are we doing something today?” Tommy asked his friend, walking up to him. Techno wouldn’t need to make potions just to have some extra. The hybrid basically had an extra chest full of them in case the  _ first  _ extra chest ran out.

“I want my weapons back,” the older of the two replied. Tommy bit his lip.  _ That meant going to L’Manburg again _ . “We are getting at least my sword and I would like to be as prepared as possible.”

Tommy turned to his father. “Phil, are you coming too?” To this, Techno shook his head and his father replied with a simple “nope”. 

The teen sat down on a chair. He watched as Techno brewed potion after potion, after a while he lost track which the hybrid had already brewed. Eventually Philza was done with breakfast. They ate and for a moment Tommy felt like a kid again. His father who now looked a little older and had more scars, and Wilbur who was nowhere to be found like usual, and Techno who technically wasn’t his brother but Tommy still called him his older brother. He almost smiled at the thought.  _ Things were much simpler before they got to the SMP lands and started living there. _

They went on their way to L’Manburg. Philza waved them goodbye from the house and Tommy excitedly waved back. The two were in full netherite armour, as if they were going to war.  _ Maybe they would be, who knows _ . 

It didn’t take them long to travel through the Nether. They quickly saw the portal to the inner SMP lands. Both were quiet, except for Tommy’s occasional comment on something random.

“We should splash invis,” Techno said when they stood before the giant portal that loomed over them. Tommy looked up at the broad piglin hybrid. He wasn’t about to complain. Instead he was quite glad they wouldn’t have to worry about anyone seeing them.

The piglin pulled out a splash potion and Tommy watched as the glass was crushed in an armoured hand. Bubbles swirled around them at an instant and the both of them breathed it in, heat filled his body on the inside and he had to take a moment to get accustomed to the feeling again.

“Ready?” he heard after a few seconds.

He nodded. “Yeah, yeah I’m ready.” Of course Techno wouldn’t see him nodding.  _ Idiot _ .

The duo stepped through the portal.  _ Good idea to bring the invis pots _ . Around them were loads of villagers. He couldn’t care enough to figure out why the people were around here so much right now, instead he just followed Techno who was already on his way through them all- he held something small so he would know where to go. 

Avoiding people was less hard than he would’ve imagined. They mostly stuck to the sides while the villagers usually walked in the middle of the path. On their way to L’Manburg, the crowd thinned out loads and they barely had to watch out at all. 

The sun was getting low to the horizon when the two stopped in front of the stairs that led down to the village. For just a second, Tommy longed to run into town and see his friends and stay there.  _ That can’t happen _ . Bitterly, he reached for his sword.  _ He was exiled and with Technoblade now _ .

“Look, down there.” His brother nodded towards a house built next to the river. Tommy followed his gaze and saw Fundy chatting with Ranboo.

“Should we splash another invis?” He could feel the effects of the previous potion start to wear off. 

But the piglin shook his head. “No.” He started walking down the stairs, pulling out a sword. It wasn’t his most powerful sword, but it could definitely deal a punch. “Let’s go get my stuff.” Tommy grinned to himself and pulled his own sword from its sheath as well.

The invisibility effect wore off the exact second Tommy came in hearing distance of his past friends. He couldn’t help but feel some sort of happiness. He hadn’t heard their voices in a while.  _ How were they doing? How had L’Manburg been? _ The teen gripped his weapon harder.  _ It didn’t matter. He’s here for Techno’s weapons and nothing else _ . 

He stepped into the light and held his netherite sword up. “Party’s over, bitches!” Needless to say, the L’Manburgains were surprised. Tommy had expected them to be of course, but the hybrids both looked like they’d seen a ghost.   
  
“Tommy?” Fundy asked, his fox eyes the size of the moon. The fox shared a look with Ranboo. “How are you here?” The two didn’t pull their weapons.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Relief flooded over Tommy as Techno stepped up behind him. The boy wasn’t sure how to react to the question but his piglin friend had worded it perfectly. 

“You- you’re supposed to be dead. You died, you- we held a funeral because you died. Tubbo saw your tower and Dream~”

He didn’t hear the rest. A frown took over his face. Ranboo’s barely audible words had hit him like a truck.  _ They think he died? How? Why?! _ With a shake of his head, Tommy shook the thoughts away.  _ Who cared that they thought he was dead? It could be a lie, and it definitely wasn’t the reason he was here. _

“Listen.” He’d interrupted Ranboo but couldn’t care less about it. “We’re not here to catch up on things. Give us Techno’s weapons  _ or else _ -” he raised his sword so it pointed straight at Fundy’s throat. Somewhere, in the back of his head, he felt bad for doing this. But then he remembered  _ oh right, they exiled him _ .

Fundy gulped when seeing the enchanted weapon. Tommy heard Techno chuckle right behind him. With the brute behind him he felt like he could take on anyone. “You heard him, Fundy. We want the weapons,” the piglin hybrid said.

Fundy waved his paws in an anxious matter, shaking his head. “I- I don’t have them! They’re hidden away, I don’t even know where they are!”

Ranboo looked between them. He considered everyone here his friend. But he wisely kept his mouth shut. He would not be known as the person who gave people in exile their powerful weapons back. 

Techno pulled a single item out of his inventory, holding it up in his palm. “It’s a nice country you’ve rebuilt here-” he started, walking onto the wooden pathway of the town. Below the wood, he could faintly hear water sloshing against rocks. “- it’d be a shame if it got a few extra holes in it, don’t you think?”

Tommy watched the other balance the wither skull on one finger skillfully before turning to the L’Manburgians again. The presence of the item alone made them freak out. Fundy pulled at his fox ears and gave Ranboo a short look. It didn’t escape Tommy.

“You  _ do  _ know where the weapons are!” he shouted. His brother narrowed his eyes.

The piglin held the wither skull tightly in his hand before he turned on his heels and walked further into the village. “I’ll tell you what. If you  _ don’t  _ give me back my weapons-” he walked straight to the marketplace. Fundy and Ranboo followed and Tommy brought up the rear. Any villagers that were around quickly scrambled away from the feared hybrid in front. 

“- then I won’t help you defeat this thing.”

The three- even Tommy- stared in shock as Techno summoned a Wither quicker than he could say ‘anarchy’. The piglin laughed like a maniac as he backed away from the creature, making sure to stay out of its blast radius. Tommy rushed for a set of stairs. Ranboo backed away into an alleyway. Fundy only took a couple steps back, shouting “I DON’T HAVE THE WEAPONS FOR THIS!”

**BOOM!**

Fundy was forced on the ground by the huge blast that came when the Wither burst to life. Its inhuman sounds echoed through the entire village and everyone fled to safety. 

Tommy stayed silent, his ears filled with Techno’s thunderous laughter as well as the screams of people. At one point Ranboo ran away from the fight. He watched as Fundy pulled out an iron sword and the teen felt a pang of guilt.  _ No one had prepared for this fight. People could die. _

He immediately got distracted from those thoughts when Ponk jumped from a roof in full netherite and joined Fundy. The man threw a bow towards Fundy who clumsily caught the weapon. The two began dealing damage to the undead mob, Tommy just watched from atop a house.

The boy grit his teeth every time one of the explosive projectiles blew up a house or the foundation of the city or something else.  _ Did we go too far? _ He was about to run and help, but Techno jumped onto the roof next to him. His friend would definitely not agree to him helping. ‘They’re not your friends,’ he’d say. 

“Techno, I don’t think they have our weapons.”

The piglin gave him a look. “Where did you get that idea?” As soon as he finished the question, Ranboo came back into the scene, holding a bunch of weapons in his arms. Tommy couldn’t help but scoff.  _ As if Techno somehow timed that perfectly _ . Both sprung to their feet and Tommy was the first to run to the fight.

It was way louder up close. If he didn’t have a shield and sword in hand, he would’ve covered his ears to hide from the deafening noise. The Wither got into melee mode, floating down closer to the planks they stood on. Ranboo threw an axe towards Fundy before running to Techno and giving him the rest.

Together the group managed to deal hit after hit on the creature, it didn’t know who to focus on. “Step back!” Techno shouted after he was sure the Wither was low on health. Everyone complied and watched as the piglin yeeted his sword straight at the core of the creature. With a last roar it died in a puff of smoke. Techno’s sword dropped to the ground as well as a star.

Fundy let out a groan and dropped to his knees. “Never do that again, please.” Everyone laughed, though exhausted. Ranboo let out a sigh and lied down on the wooden planks on his back.

Tommy grinned brightly and looked towards his piglin friend. He saw Techno was holding a couple of his weapons. “We got them!” he shouted and pumped his fist in the air. Ranboo said a quiet “you’re welcome”.

By now, the moon stood high in the sky. Tommy stretched and hid a yawn behind his hand. “Are we going now?” he asked as he stepped towards Techno, who grumbled out a reply and looked at Fundy. Tommy followed his gaze.  _ Uh oh _ .

“I’m still missing items.”

The fox hybrid cowered under his gaze, ears flattening. “Which- which ones? I thought- Ranboo gave them to you, right?” he managed to stutter out before giving a nervous laugh.

“The Axe of Peace, my trident and I would also like the Nether star …  _ please _ .” Techno just held his sword in one hand- not even pointed at anyone but at the ground- and his unloaded rocket launcher in the other, he looked as intimidating as ever. Fundy’s eyes darted around as he shook his head just slightly, he didn’t want to give up his new items. 

Before the Blade could do anything, Tommy stepped forward with his sword in hand. He pointed the sword at Fundy, the tip of the weapon poking the hybrid’s nose. “He asked for them nicely.” 

The fox slowly got up and held his paws up. “I have the axe but that’s it, I swear!” He held up the axe. Tommy took the powerful weapon from him, grinning when holding it. He couldn’t help himself- it was one of the most powerful weapons to exist.

“The Nether star too, Fundy,” the teen still held the sword up. “Come on, just give it and we’ll go!”

Meanwhile Techno and Ranboo stood next to each other, just watching their friends. “Hey Ranboo, one day we’ll look back at this and think ‘these were the good days’, don’t you think?”

The Endarian gave a soft chuckle but his mind was elsewhere. He looked at the damage that had been done to the village, he suppressed a sigh.  _ He would have to fix that before the festival _ . Silently dreading the moment, he thought about having to tell Tubbo this. Techno had his weapons back now.  _ That conversation was going to be a hard one. _

As if he read his mind, Techno said “thanks for the weapons, by the way”. He just hummed a reply. They watched as Fundy eventually gave Tommy the Nether star, who held it up to show Techno proudly.

“So, Tubbo still has my trident?” he asked the Ender hybrid. Ranboo just nodded, there was no point in lying now. Techno basically knew already. 

“When are you all coming together again then? Winter festival?” Everyone caught the look Ranboo and Fundy gave each other after Tommy asked that.

The teen looked thoughtful.  _ If it was just a festival, why wouldn’t they just talk about it? Everyone knew about them, why so secretive? _ “Well, tell us about it,” he held up the Axe of Peace, pointing it towards Fundy  _ again _ . 

The fox hybrid quickly shook his head. “There’s a festival in two days, I- everyone will be there! Even Dream! And- that’s all I know! That’s all I know, I swear!” he rambled, holding his paws up in defence. 

Techno stared at the fox, deep in thought. Tommy was about the press for more information but didn’t when the piglin put a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go, Tommy. We know enough.”

The blond didn’t argue with him. Without much of a goodbye, they left L’Manburg. They didn’t help with the damage, didn’t give any apologies. As soon as the city was out of sight, Tommy began grinning.

“That was badass!”

Techno chuckled and watched the son of his friend retell everything that happened in a way more dramatic matter. The piglin stored his other sword in his inventory, sheathing his Orphan Obliterator by his side. Tommy ran around excitedly- as if he was 10 years old again- with Techno’s Axe of Peace still in one hand. Techno let him have it for now.

With their pace, they reached the Community House quickly. This time they hadn’t drunk invisibility potions. Any villagers that were around made sure to step out of the way quickly or go around the duo in a wide arc. Tommy grinned when seeing the familiar building in the middle of the lake. Before they got in though, Techno stopped the teen again by putting a hand on his shoulder.

“You still have my axe,” he started. The other immediately held out the weapon- without any hesitation. Techno didn’t take it, instead he said “keep it, you’ve earned it”. At the look he got from Tommy he let out a snort. “You handled the situation well, you earned my trust. My respect even.”

Tommy’s eyes shone at his friend’s words. Holding the weapon tighter in his hand, he grinned. When rain started to slowly fall from the sky both of them didn’t move.

“I think it’s time for me to ask this, Tommy.” Techno looked at the dark sky above them for a second. “You’ve helped me well, and we’re on our way to get your discs, but I need to tell you this. I’m going to blow up L’Manburg, Tommy.” The teen’s eyes widened. 

“I want you by my side when I do that. Because I  _ will  _ blow it up. In my eyes, L’Manburg is already dead.” He paused to see Tommy turn his head away. He already guessed this would be hard for him. “Tommy, this country has only caused you pain and suffering. Tubbo? He might’ve been nice but as soon as he became president he cast you aside! He chose to keep his role as president but exiled you!”

“I- I can’t do that, Techno.” The other didn’t reply.

Hair fell in front of Tommy’s face as he stared at the ground. He watched raindrops slide off his armour as he thought.  _ Techno was right in some ways, but blowing up his own nation? But … It wasn’t his nation anymore though _ . His eyes found Techno’s and all he saw was barely hidden anger.  _ L’Manburg had done terrible things, to Techno as well as to him.  _

“Alright.” He swallowed a big lump in his throat. “I don’t know how much I will help with the actual blowing up of L’Manburg, but I will stand by your side.” His mind was still full of doubt but maybe siding with Techno wouldn’t be that bad.

For a split second, Tommy swore he saw the piglin smile. 

“We can work on that first part, but I’m glad you chose so Tommy.” The hybrid patted his turtle helmet before entering the Community House. Tommy followed, a grin slowly growing on his face. They didn’t bother staying in the building for long, they both wanted to get home as soon as possible. With the Nether journey ahead it would take a while. 

When they exited, Tommy walked backward alongside Techno who scoffed at him. He stared at the building. “Y’know, it would be funny if we blew up the Community House,” he chuckled as he voiced the thought. “Would show Dream not to mess with us.”

“We’re not blowing up the Community House Tommy, that’s a bad idea.”   
“You’re just boring.”

An invisible figure watched as the duo entered the Community Portal and disappeared out of the Overworld. Not even five seconds later, the potion effect wore off. With ease the figure hopped off the building and landed on the wooden walkway below.

He scoffed behind his smiley-mask. “You want to blow up the Community House too, huh?” the man whispered to no one but himself. Slowly a plan started to form in his mind. 

He hadn’t liked Ranboo’s plan-  _ future  _ Ranboo’s plan. But perhaps he could turn it more in his favor. With what he just heard from Techno, he had a few extra pieces for a perfect check-mate.  _ He could twist the plan in such a way that would benefit him. _

The masked individual took out a book from his inventory. The cover read ‘Do Not Read’ but he casually skipped over that. After opening the book to the very first page, he also took out an enchanted quill. No ink necessary and a wicked grin spreading wider on his hidden face, Dream only touched the paper three times. 

He held the book away from his face and stared at his masterpiece. A simple smiley. “One of them will be taken care of, now for the other.” He closed the book and stored it away again. He would give this one to Ranboo so he could put it into his- somehow- shared chest. There was another book, the original, which he would keep and use later.

Then he too went through the portal. He still needed to prepare. Not only for the festival, no he planned more than that.  _ He was going to blow up the Community House, ruin two people’s lives indefinitely and start a war.  _ He laughed quietly at the thought. The mere thought of war got him impatient for the following days.

And after war?  _ Total control _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dream is an a-hole, both in the Dream SMP canon as in this story  
> I can't believe he killed Tommy ;-;
> 
> next chapter: things go down hill and fast, both Ranboo and Ranboo will end up having a bad time :)


	5. Chapter Five - Unspeakable Things and Their Consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who would like to know, the title of my book is inspired by the song 'Here, at the End of All Things' by foxwedding
> 
> Enjoy!

Beams of sunlight were reaching the tips of the building when Ranboo finally got there. The streets were quiet, most people were already in L’Manburg for the festival.  _ Good. It would make his job way easier _ .

Wind pulled at his black and white hair as the Endarian strode to the Community House. Everyone could see him and to say he was uncomfortable was a huge understatement. His mask was now in his inventory, hidden away until he needed it again. He didn’t wear his usual black hoodie either, instead he wore a black suit which made him look almost completely identical to his younger self.

The Endarian entered the building and took half a stack of TNT in his hand. He checked his communicator before sighing with relief. Only half an hour until the festival would start. That gave him enough time to place the bombs, get out and trigger the explosions.

It didn’t take long to actually place the explosives. He hooked them up to little devices Dream had given him that connected to his communicator. Once everything was placed- on both floors- he looked around. Then he gave a satisfied nod.  _ This would do it. _

He ran to exit the Community House and set the timer on his device. The hybrid reached the shore of the lake in only a few seconds. A single villager who held a basket in her hands, walked by him and gave him a strange look. But when Ranboo gave a stern look back she quickly hurried along. She looked back at him in a scared matter and the hybrid held a single finger over his lips, signalling for her to keep her mouth shut. 

Years earlier he never would’ve scared a random innocent villager like that, but now he  _ needed  _ to look suspicious. He felt guilty when he saw her speed up on her way to L’Manburg.

His communicator beeping made him focus on what he was doing again. He looked at his device before quickly turning his attention to the Community House.  _ Three … Two … One … _

The explosion that followed barely a second after the last beep sent the hybrid staggering back. He held a hand protectively in front of his eyes to shield it from the bright light that emitted from the blast. Dust and smoke came in clouds from the destroyed building, making Ranboo cough and blink rapidly. “Holy cow!” he breathed out while waving a hand in front of his face to try and get rid of the particles.

When the dust settled and he coughed out a last few times, all he saw were a few half-broken walls left standing. Everything else was completely blasted to the ground or into the lake. A fire burned away a piece of wood that somehow survived. Some water that was stored on the upper layer of the house now flooded back into the lake.

Guilt wormed its way back into his mind.  _ People spent so much time on this. It was the very first building made in these lands. He just blew it to kingdom come without a single care in the world. _ Biting his lip, the Endarian took a quick look around.  _ Had it been a mistake? Should he have found a simpler way around his younger self? _ He tried to ignore the doubtful thoughts and clenched a fist.  _ It was necessary. They needed him out of their way. _

A figure atop of the hill towards the Community Portal watched him silently, it didn’t take long for Ranboo to notice him. _ Dream was watching him _ . In a split second the Endarian teleported his way next to the masked man.

“It’s done.” 

“I can see that.”

Ranboo didn’t look at him. He wished he could figure out what Dream thought. “This is the easiest part of this operation. The rest is up to you.” The response he got was a simple hum. “Remember, you can’t hurt them. You only need to threaten them, alright?”

“We’ve been over this, Ranboo. I know what to do.”

The hybrid still couldn’t shake the bad feeling that came over him as he watched Dream head towards L’Manburg.  _ Right now he needed to trust Dream. They will pull this off and then he can focus on the right things.  _

“Just making sure,” he whispered to no one in particular. He dug into his inventory and pulled out his mask.  _ His job was done, for now. _

* * *

Ranboo laughed when a kid tried to catch his tail. He swerved it out of the way just before the boy could grab onto it and watched as the kid giggled. Tubbo approached him and the kid was quickly ushered away from the hybrid by his mom.

“Quite a speech you gave there, Tubs,” Ranboo smiled. The president chuckled but it was full of anxiety. He didn’t blame him, they were about to try something incredibly dangerous. 

“Yeah, thanks for helping me with that by the way.” Tubbo kept an eye on the main road that led in and out of L’Manburg as he talked. “I haven’t seen him yet, have you?” After whispering that, the younger of the two looked up at Ranboo. He shook his head. The festival had started an hour ago but Dream hadn’t shown his face- or rather, mask- yet.

“We don’t need to worry, Dream said he’d come, and listen to L’Manburg’s laws too.”  _ He didn’t need to worry. _ Ranboo adjusted his suit just slightly.  _ He didn’t need to worry. Then why did he feel like something bad was about to happen? _

“You’re right, as usual,” Toby chuckled. The worried expression didn’t leave his face. “Do you think, like- do you think when Dream is, y’know …” Ranboo glanced at him, not interrupting. Tubbo sighed in frustration and started pacing back and forth. “Do you think Tommy will come back? He could come back, right?” His voice had dropped down into a barely audible whisper. 

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Ranboo thought of how to answer.  _ Did Tommy want to come back? Surely he could after Dream is gone. But would he  _ want  _ to? Last time he saw his friend, he was on Techno’s side, who was a known enemy of L’Manburg _ . “Tubbo, I don’t-”

His sentence was cut off when a villager rushed towards the marketplace, yelling about something Ranboo didn’t quite catch. Tubbo frowned and left his side to listen to the man. Quickly, a circle had formed around the man by people who listened. When he did hear what was being said, his heart dropped and his shoulders slumped.

“Dream! Dream is in L’Manburg! He is building walls around the city! Walls of obsidian! Where is the president? Walls of obsidian are being built around L’Manburg!”

Ranboo watched Tubbo get to the man and calm him down before looking down the road the man came from. He swallowed a big lump in his throat as fear quickly built up in his head. But before he could freak out, a hand wrapped around his arm. A determined Quackity pulled the hybrid towards Tubbo and Fundy who were apparently already running down the road. “Ranboo! Let’s go!” 

They broke out into a run. Following the road, the group of four reached the edges of the city. The edges were clearly visible since obsidian now marked the borders. On top of the wall stood Dream. Armoured in full netherite and holding onto his double-bladed sword with one hand. Intimidating, to say the least.

“Dream, what are you doing?! What is the meaning of this?!” Quackity stepped forward. Tubbo stood beside him, looking up at Dream. The mask-bearer let himself drop off the obsidian before skillfully landing on his feet.

“Oh, Tommy fucked up,” Dream said. The anger in his voice sent shivers down Ranboo’s spine.

“What do you mean? What did he do?” Tubbo voiced all of their thoughts. 

“You’re telling me that you don’t know what he did!” Dream pulled his double-bladed swords into two separate swords and held each in one hand. Ranboo’s hands ghosted over the hilts of his own swords. He couldn’t beat Dream like this, without armour, but he could intervene if the man were to attack the president.

“No! Tommy’s exiled! He’s gone!”

“No, you’re  _ lying  _ to me.”

“Dream, I’m being completely truthful!”

“Dream, Dream, what do you mean?” Fundy joined in. His fox eyes were wide in shock. Quackity looked stressed but stayed quiet.

Dream pushed his way past Fundy and went around the wall that he hadn’t finished. “Follow me.” When they all stuttered in disagreement, Dream repeated “ _ follow me! _ ” in a way more threatening tone. This time, no one hesitated. The man in front started sprinting and the others followed. 

“Where are we going?” Ranboo asked at the back of the group. He didn’t get an answer. They kept running over the Prime path, and they soon found out where they were heading.

Tubbo saw it first. “By the Gods …” was his reaction, he slowed his pace a bit to stare ahead. The others had a similar reaction. Ranboo, being the last to reach the top of the hill, gasped when seeing it too.

_ The Community House, what … what happened to it? _ The building was blown up, only a few walls left standing. A part of the building was submerged in the water of the lake. 

A wave of guilt overcame him. Then fear.  _ Why did he feel guilty? Why?!  _

L’Manburgs president took the lead in going to the site of the explosion. Quackity followed, then Fundy, then Ranboo. Dream stared him in the eyes as the Endarian walked past, sending another ice cold shiver down his spine. Behind him, the accuser followed last.

His mind numbed when they stepped into the rubble. He saw some others in the distance staring at them, but his mind didn’t register it. People started talking. What they said he didn’t listen to, he just stared at Dream’s mask. He faintly heard someone talk about Tommy’s disc but the words exited his mind as quickly as they came in.

Guilt. _ Why did he feel guilty? Some part must know that he did something. That he had something to do with this _ . His mouth seemed to get as dry as a desert when he thought about it.  _ His blackouts. Those must be the reason why he doesn’t know _ . For a second Dream caught his look and they looked each other in the eyes.  _ And Dream too. He has something to do with this. _

“No!” Tommy’s voice came out of nowhere. Everyone around turned their eyes to the boy that just jumped into the middle of their conversation. “Don’t give him the disc, Tubbo!” Now that he paid attention, Ranboo saw his president was holding one of Tommy’s prized discs: Mellohi.

For a moment he saw Dream’s eyes behind his mask, it was a dangerous look but there was also a glint of  _ something  _ that the hybrid didn’t know meant.

_ What did Dream have to do with all this? Was this his plan? Did he want this? Or is he just using this to get at us? _ The hybrid scratched the back of his head, doubts were starting to overwhelm him. More questions came and none got answered.

Hearing swords being drawn, Ranboo only backed away to a safe distance. Tommy and Tubbo started fighting. He watched with a frown.  _ They needed to stop fighting. This was bad. _

Swords clashed together though he barely paid attention to it. Nervousness bubbled in his stomach.  _ You need to go. Panic room, now. Things will go wrong. _

The Endarian took a step back.  _ He needed to get out of there _ . Someone stood behind him, the person wrapped a hand tightly around his arm- holding him in place so he wasn’t able to leave.

“You’re staying here.” Words got stuck in his throat when he heard Dream say that in a low but threatening tone. He eyed the masked individual for a few seconds. Dream nodded towards the fight, as if encouraging him to watch two of his friends battle against each other.  _ He wanted him to see this, it must be  _ very  _ important _ .

“The discs were worth more than you ever were!”

Multiple gasps sounded around the area. At first it didn’t click what he meant, but when Ranboo realized what Tommy had said his eyes widened. All his fear was thrown out the window and replaced with shock and disbelief.

Tubbo and Tommy stared at each other. The entire place was quiet except for the two catching their breath. Tommy let his axe rest on the ground, expression turned into a sad one. 

“I- I don’t … I’m sorry, Tubbo …” 

Regret radiated off the teen’s face. He stared at the disc that Tubbo still held before tearing his eyes off it. “I’m … Just give Dream the disc.”

Ranboo hadn’t realized Dream let go of him until he saw the man standing next to L’Manburgs president. But he couldn’t bring himself to walk away now.  _ Something important was about to happen.  _

A sudden strong feeling of dread overcame the Endarian when he watched Tubbo hand over Tommy’s second and last disc. The teens exchanged a few words though Ranboo’s eyes stayed glued on the masked individual.

Only he noticed how Dream’s shoulders seemed to untense, and how his back straightened just slightly.  _ Did they just do exactly what Dream wanted? _ Dream put the circular item away in his enderchest. When Ranboo stepped closer to listen, he swore he heard the man chuckle. No one else heard it, no one even looked at him since all the attention was on the two kids in the middle of the used-to-be Community House.

That changed quickly when the laughing only became louder. Dream patted the shoulder of Tubbo a couple times, everyone’s attention on him now. A shiver went down Ranboo’s spine at the laugh.

“Well, first of all-” the mask-bearer started, in a light and joyful tone. More happy than Ranboo would’ve liked to hear. “- thanks for giving me the disc. I appreciate it a lot. But … I just want to say that you’re an idiot.”

If even possible, Tubbo’s face dropped more. It was gut-wrenching to watch and Ranboo wanted to run over to comfort him, but he knew there was more to come.

“Tubbo, you are an idiot! You’re not even president!  _ I _ am more a president than you, because you get pushed around by everyone! And you can’t even trust your own people, because even  _ Ranboo  _ is a traitor!”

_ No _

Eyes turned to him, not even all of them, but most did. For a moment he couldn’t breathe as he watched Dream pull an awfully familiar book out of his inventory. ‘Do Not Read’ was written on the cover. The book was handed to Tubbo who read it and gave him a sad- no,  _ disappointed-  _ look.

Sounds faded and a high pitched ringing came in the place of people’s voices.  _ That can’t be his book. It literally cannot be _ . A sort of static sounded in the back of his head, gradually becoming louder. He dug his claws into his inventory faster than ever before and pulled out his book, the cover was identical to the one that Tubbo now handed over to Quackity. Opening the book so quick he damaged the edges with his claws, Ranboo stared at the very first page. 

:)

He almost threw up right then and there. More questions flooded his mind.  _ How? How?! HOW?! _ The hybrid held a shaking hand over his mouth while dropping the book to the floor. Some of his friends were glaring at him, it made him feel more and more uncomfortable. He forced his eyes to watch Dream again, who was holding a big speech in front of everyone.

“I am going to  _ destroy  _ L’Manburg! You have until noon tomorrow to say your goodbyes, and then we are going to burn that nation to the ground.”

More shocked gasps were heard all around.  _ Surely not! _ Any last bit of hope left him. The Ender hybrid had to lean against one of the still standing walls to stay up, his legs could barely support him now. His mind filled with shock and fear and any bad emotion that’s out there.

Dream left after that. While stepping away from the rubble they’d locked eyes. In the eyes of his enemy, Ranboo saw an emotion that he could only recognize as amusement. He had to tear his eyes away.  _ They did exactly what he wanted them to do. The strings are in his hands now, aren’t they? _

Tears stung in his eyes and he could only vaguely watch as Techno and Tommy argued some more. He couldn’t make out what they were saying. His own thoughts drowned everything else out. The boy shook his head,  _ he needed to get to his panic room  _ now. 

Taking a deep breath, he straightened his back. When he turned around though he was once again stopped by someone. This time Quackity stood there with crossed arms and a pissed look on his face.  _ Of course he still wasn’t allowed to leave _ . 

With dread in his stomach, Ranboo anxiously turned his attention back to Tommy, Tubbo and Techno. But he still couldn’t make out what they said. His mind was stuck on what was gonna happen after. When they were  _ all  _ going to be pissed at him.

For a moment he looked up at the bright blue sky.  _ Curse you, Dream _ . 

* * *

He’d watched everything from a safe distance, sat atop of a wall with his pitch black mask over his face so no one would recognize him. The older version of the Ranboo by the Community House had also changed back into his hoodie. He’d heard everything that was said.

And he was  _ not  _ happy about it.

Once Dream left the area, he jumped off the wall and teleported himself next to the man- they were far enough that no one saw. Dream only gave a hum of acknowledgement. The taller of the two clenched his fists.  _ He hadn’t stuck to the plan, not even a little bit _ . No words said yet and they quietly went on their way to the Badlands. 

Once he was absolutely sure there wasn’t a single person around, he drew his sword. “Dream, you piece of shit! You didn’t stick to the plan! And what is this about blowing up L’Manburg?! I thought you said you knew the plan!”

One mask faced the other and for a second, neither of them moved. Until Dream also pulled his sword- with two blades, one on either end- and started laughing. “I did what was necessary, some alterations were no harm.”

Ranboo growled at the man in front of him before swinging his sword forward. “Selfish prick!” Dream deflected the attack but immediately brought the other side of his sword up to force him back.

His own sword was small, like a katana, but long. He used to have two identical swords, he’d lost the other one a while back. They had complimented each other, one being black and called Peace while the other was white and named War. Now he only wielded War. 

Dream on the other hand held his iconic sword Nightmare. It was originally a sword with blades on either end of the weapon, but the man had built it in such a way he could pull the swords into two separate blades. It was a strong, big and heavy thing, easily outmatching Ranboo. 

Swords clashed again and Dream used the weight to press down on Ranboo. “I’m not helping you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I would never betray L’Manburg like that!” The hybrid stood his ground, not cowering under Dream’s strength. 

“Actually, you are. You’re staying by my side while blowing up that forsaken nation,” he chuckled. He used the moment to bring his sword down on Ranboo’s again, making him stagger back. “You need me to help with the Egg, don’t you? You know I won’t if you don’t give me something in return,  _ Solus _ . You need me.”

He could almost hear Dream grin, he knew he was enjoying this. Tightening his grip on his sword, he readied himself for another attack.

“And if you don’t side with me, I’ll just kill Tubbo.”

Ranboo froze to the spot. The Endarian turned his head and his eyes connected with Dream’s. He only found amusement. It was enough for him to lessen his grip and forcefully relax his stance.

“I saw how long you stared at him when I talked with him. You miss him, don’t you? Something happened to him, and now he’s gone.” Ranboo kept his mouth shut for a while. He didn’t like that Dream figured that out so easily, he didn’t like it at all.

“So … you won’t kill him if I side with you?” It wasn’t really a question, he knew the answer.

“If I get your loyalty, then he stays alive.” For now. He didn’t say it but Ranboo knew he thought it.  _ How could he choose between those? On one side he would have to destroy his own nation. But on the other, he couldn’t bear to lose his friend again _ . It hurt to admit but there was no option there.

No words were spoken when they retreated their weapons- the Endarian first and then the other. Ranboo looked daggers at Dream. If looks could kill, Dream would drop dead instantly.

Ranboo heard him clap his hands a few times. “Well done, Solus. Now it’s time to talk to our new allies,” Dream said, acting like he didn’t just threaten Tubbo’s life. He took the lead, walking past a big open plot of land. Something was being built there. Something big. Both didn’t pay much attention to it though and just headed towards the spruce forest in the distance.

“So, is Solus my new nickname now?” he asked after they entered the woods. The black mask that previously covered his face now rested in his inventory, he didn’t need it now. 

“You need a proper name around others,” the other replied with a mouth full. He’d moved his mask up to eat some food. “Solus fits,” he said after swallowing down the food. “You’re  _ alone  _ without me.”

Dream gave him a toothy grin to which Ranboo rolled his eyes. “I hate you so much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to say that I really appreciate all the comments you guys are putting under every chapter. I absolutely suck at replying to them though and I'm sorry for that. I do see them though, every one of them! Thanks to everyone who drops a comment!


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